Railway-crossing signal



Mmh 3-1. 192s. 1,531,432

N. J. BRIGGS RAILWAY CROSSING SIGNAL Filed June 9, 1925 @MUNI IN VENTOR.

/M J'Brzffs Patented Mar. 31, 1925.

UNITED *STATES NORMAN J. BRIGGS, OF PENSACOLA, FLORIDA;

RAILWAY-CROSSING SIGNAL.

Applicationvnlea June a, 1923. serial No. 644,422.

To all whom t may cow/oem;

Be itknown that I, NORMAN JfBRIsG's, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pensacola, in the county of Escambia and State of' Florida,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-CrossingSignals, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghadto the laccompanying drawings.

The ob `ect of this lnvention is to provide means for preventingaccidents to vehicles at railway crossings, and the general object ofthe invention is to provide a device of this character so disposed andconstructed that it will compel a driver to slow down before reachingthe railway crossing and compel the driver toobserve the danger signaland do this at such a distance from the track that the driver willrealize the proximity of the railway crossing before he` reaches thecrossing itself and thus before it will be too late for him to slowdown, the device being further so arranged that it will cause anyvehicle to slow down before' reaching the railway crossing so that adriver will not be likely to `endeavor topit his speed against the speedof the train.

A further object is to provide a device of this character which is sodesigned as to contract the roadway just in front of the railwaycrossing and to provideI means which will prevent any driver fromapproaching the contracted portion of the roadway at `full speed andwill oblige him to slow down in order to pass through this contractedportion and which will positively call his attention to a danger signaldisposed in the roadway opposite said contracted portion so that hecannot but be aware of the fact that he is approaching a railway lcrossing and that` he must look out for trains. l l.

A still further object is to provide ,an-.de-

vice of this'` character which may be cheaply constructed and applied todirt or concrete roads, and in which the signal is relatively cheap, isfirmly supported in position, cannot be ordinarily damaged,land which isof such character as will inevl4 ably call the p drivers attention toit'. .j

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figurel is a plan view of a roadway having a safety crossing signal andobstruction made in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is an elevation of the construction illustrated in Figure l,looking toward the railway;

Figure 3 is an elevation of the signal showing the manner in which it isembedded in the earth or concrete; f'

- Figure 4' is a Vsideelevation of thesignal;

Figurey 5 is asection on the line 5-5of Figure 4.-, looking in thedirectionA of the arrow.

Referring to Figure 1, A designates a public highway and B a railwaytrack crossing the highway. Disposed some thirty feet more or less fromvthe railway and in the middle of thepublic highway A is asignal mast,designated generally 10, which supports the target or circular disk Thismast is preferably made of angle iron, channel iron or T-iron and at itslower end'is rigidly bolted to a longitudinally ex! tending base 12whichy may be of concrete, wood or any other suitabley material. Theupper end of the masty is supported by means of a brace 13 extendingdownwardly and outwardly and bolted at its lower end to the base 12.

Mounted upon the upper end of the mast 10 and above the target 11 is alamp bracket 14 upon which alamp isdesigned to ybe disposed. This lampbracket should beso formed that a lamp can only be placed upon it in oneway. The lamp l5 designed to be used with this lamp bracket has twolenses, one of the lenses being red and being .directed away from the.railroad crossing and the other being yellow or any other desiredcolor. The lower portion of the. lamp is preferably surrounded, onconcrete roads, 'by a concrete curb 16 and on dirt roads there will bean elevated portion formed immediately around the base of the mastwhichmay be made by vertical boards defining the mound, the space betweenthese boards being filled with earth. Preferably, though notnecessarily, a red flag 17 will be mounted upon the target 11. Thetarget will, of course, have words of warning thereon as, for instance,Railroad Crossing, Stop, or any other suitable words of warning. y

Starting immediately opposite the signal mast and extending inward andtoward the railroad track B in a curve are the in wardly convergentwalls, ramps or curbs 1S. These on concrete roads will be built ofconcrete and may be built of concrete on dirt roads. It is also possibleto form these curbs 18ct earth with board walls. These curbs 18 extendinward and forward or toward the railroad-y in a curve and then ex- 4tend directly toward the railroad a very short distance, as at 19. Thoseends 19 of the curb which are adjacent each other are disposed just asutiicient distance apart to permit the passage of two vehicles, and thebase of the sign post or mast 10 is of such area that a driver cannotdrive directly through the opening 20 between the ends 19 but must drivetoward the curb or wall 18 and obviously he is obliged to turn his carinward, as shown by the arrowsY in Figure 1, and then move forwardtoward the railway. Thus it is obvious that the wall or curb 18 willoblige the driver to slow up before he approaches the railway and indoing so the drivers attention must be caught by the signal and hecannot pass on and across the railroad without having observed thesignal.

It will be seen that I have provided a stationary sign anchored in theroad and used in connection with the curb or wall 18 which forces a slowdown. Thesign'is` so constructed that it will stand all abuse and can#not be knocked down. It is also to be noted that the walls 18 oi' curbsdo not cause a vehicle to turn sidewise or parallel with the railroad,in which case the motorist would be unable to see the railroad and wouldbe I unable to see, therefore', whether a train was coming or not. In myconstruction, however', the driver innst drive his car slightly'vdiagonally to' the road in ordervt'o pass through the relatively narrowopening 20, but the angle is not so great that hc can'- not see anapproaching train.' Furthermore, this device is very simple and cheapand this is essential in view of the fact that there are thousands ofcrossings to be protected. This construction is such that vehicles of arelatively long wheel base, such as Vautomobiles or teams of more thantwo horses, can readily pass on either side o't' the base of the signaland pass through the opening 20. It will be noted also that the driverof the vehicle cannot pass through the opening 2'() with ease by takingthe middlel of the road or ,goingvto the left hand side of the road. Itis just as difficult for hiin to pass through this opening by going tothe left hand side of the signal as it is to pass through the opening bygoing on the right hand side of the signal.

I do not `wish to be limited to any particulaigconstruction for lthecurbs 18, noi' to their height, so long as they form an obstructionwhich will cause the driver to turn inward toward the opening 2O andprevent the driver from driving straight along the road. Neither do Iwish to be limited to the details of construction of the signal and itsmounting, except that the signal and its support should be of sufficientstrength as to form an obstruction to traflic which willl prevent thedriver from attempting to steer directlythrough the opening 20.

I claim 1. A roadway intersecting a railway track having a signalstructure disposed in the middle of the roadway and distanced from thetrack, and curbs extending from' the lateral margins of the roadwayinward and toward the track, the forward ends` off the curbs beingspaced from each other to-,forin a relatively narrow passageway, thesignal structure being disposed approximately on a line with theintersection ofthe curbs with the lateral marginsv of the roadway, theroadway being of uniform normal width from a point on one side of thetrack beyond the curbs to a point on the other side of the track beyond'the curbs. l

2. A roadway intersecting a railroad track having a signal structuredisposed in the middle of the roadway and distanced from the track, thesignal structure comprising a relatively large base, a mast,` and asignal mounted upon the mast, the base of `the signalstructure beingrelatively wide at its end remote from the track but converging towardthe track, and curbs extending from the lateral margins of the lroadwayinward and toward the track, saidcurbsbeing curved in their -length, theforward ends'o-f the curbs being spaced from each other to form arelatively narrow passage-way, the rear end of the base of thesignalstructure being disposed approximately on a line with the ends of thecurbs remote from the track, the structure including'a day. signal anda'night signal, the roadway being of uniform normal width from a pointon one side of the track beyond the curbs to a point on the other sideof the track beyond the curbs. y

3. A roadway intersecting a railroadtrack having a signal structuredisposed iii the middle of the roadway and distanced from the track, thesignal structure comprising a relatively large base, a. yinast, a signalmounted upon the mast, the base ofthe signal structure being relativelywide at its end remote from the track but converging toward the track,and curbs extending from the lateral margins of the roadway in- Ward andtoward the track, said curbs being curved in their length, the forwardends of the curbs being spaced from cach other to form a relativelynarrow passageway, the rear end of the base or' the signal structurebeing disposed approximately on a line with the ends of the curbs remotefrom the track,

the roadway being of uniform normal Width from a point on one side ofthe track beyond the curbs to a point on the other side 10 signature.

NORMAN J. BRIGGS.

